Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we’ve got some very urgent stories to get to, and here’s what’s going on.
The New York judge in charge of former President Donald Trump’s criminal case has added some dates to the courtroom agenda, the Democrats have officially nominated their presidential candidate, and the vice president has chosen her running mate. Also, a popular social media platform is suing advertisers, and a Pakistani national has been charged with a murder plot against U.S. officials.
New York Judge Adds Ruling Dates in Trump’s Criminal Case
The New York judge who is overseeing Trump’s criminal case wrote that the sentencing hearing for the former president on Sept. 18 will not change, but he did make several other scheduling decisions.In a letter to Trump’s legal team and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said that he will rule on the former president’s motion for the judge to recuse himself next Monday, but so far, previous motions have been struck down by the judge and a state appeals court.
Merchan also said that he’ll decide, by Sept. 16, on a request submitted by Trump’s attorneys. They asked that certain social media posts made by the former president, which were cited as evidence by prosecutors in the case, be covered by the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that found former presidents should enjoy immunity for their official acts.
In case you don’t remember, in late May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The case was in relation to payments that Trump authorized his former lawyer to make toward the end of his 2016 campaign to adult film star Stormy Daniels, in order for her to remain quiet about claims of an affair.
The former president has denied the affair took place and had pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying the case was politically motivated. His attorneys have said that he intends to appeal the jury’s verdict.
By the way, Trump also faces cases in several other jurisdictions, although two of them are stalled. He has pleaded not guilty in those cases, as well.
You should also know that last month, a Florida federal judge dismissed a federal classified documents case against Trump, ruling that special prosecutor Jack Smith was not lawfully appointed by the Department of Justice.
The Trump–Harris 2024 Presidential Election Matchup Is Now Official
The Democratic Party has just formally nominated Vice President Kamala Harris for president. It happened late Monday when delegates finished voting online.Harris and Trump are now deadlocked in a race that has taken presidential politics to a place we’ve never seen in the modern era.
Let’s break it down. Over the course of three days last month, Trump survived an assassination attempt, was formally nominated by his party, and named Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate.
Less than a week later, President Joe Biden abruptly withdrew from the race and endorsed Harris. In fact, she became the Democratic nominee without winning a single primary election, something that hasn’t happened since 1968.
Yet, despite these extraordinary circumstances, political experts say the old rules of politics will still apply: the winner will likely be the candidate who can maintain their base, present an issues-driven appeal to independent voters, and turn out the vote on Election Day.
By the way, current polling shows that the race is essentially tied. Harris and Trump are each polling within the margin of error in national polls. However, in the battleground states, recent surveys have shown Harris with a slight lead in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and Trump leading in Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina.
As of today, Harris and Trump have less than three months to settle on the best issues and messaging to present to the voters, and the big election is coming up on Nov. 5.
Harris Picks Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as Her Running Mate
The day after she was officially nominated as her party’s presidential candidate, Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. Yesterday’s announcement caps more than two weeks of speculation over who would join her at the top of the Democratic ticket.It also kicks off a four-day battleground state tour that will take Harris and her new running mate to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada.
In case you’re not familiar with the Minnesota governor, he’s 60 years old and began his career in the Army National Guard, serving for 24 years, before becoming a high school teacher in Mankato. Walz is a former congressman, who, while in the House, was the highest-ranking enlisted soldier to serve in Congress.
Walz was elected governor of Minnesota in 2018 and while in office, advocated for free school meals for students, pushed to get Minnesota on 100 percent “clean electricity” by 2040, and expanded paid leave for workers.
Other candidates that made the vice presidential shortlist included Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
Walz is generally viewed as popular with Midwestern and union voters, and is sometimes highlighted for his military background. In case you weren’t aware, Minnesota is one of the most reliably Democratic states in presidential elections, and it hasn’t voted for a Republican in 52 years.
Elon Musk’s X Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Advertisers Over ‘Massive’ Boycott
Elon Musk’s company, X, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). GARM is a cross-industry organization whose members include Mastercard, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever. Musk is accusing the group of a “massive advertiser boycott” against X.X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino says the complaint, which was filed in federal court in Texas, is also aimed at the World Federation of Advertisers and its members, including Mars, Orsted, and CVS Health. She said the illegal behavior of these organizations and their executives has cost X billions of dollars. By the way, GARM is commissioned by the World Federation of Advertisers, according to its website.
You should know that X, formerly Twitter, filed the lawsuit after it reviewed a recent investigation by the House Judiciary Committee. The committee found that GARM allegedly organized boycotts and other indirect tactics to target platforms, content creators, and news organizations it didn’t like, in an effort to demonetize and limit certain choices for consumers. Members of the committee say they’re trying to determine whether the current laws on the books are enough to deter anti-competitive collusion in online advertising.
Musk also wrote about the lawsuit, describing his relationship with advertisers as “a war” after “getting nothing but empty words” two years after he took over the company.
In defense, GARM says it creates voluntary industry standards on brand safety and suitability, which media sellers and ad tech companies can voluntarily adopt, adapt, or reject.
Interesting to note, that GARM was created in 2019 in order to curb the proliferation of “dangerous, hateful, disruptive and fake content online.”
Pakistani National With Alleged Iranian Ties Charged in Plot to Assassinate US Officials
The Department of Justice (DOJ) released an unsealed indictment yesterday.It identified 46-year-old Asif Merchant, also known as “Asif Raza Merchant,” as part of a scheme that targeted public figures within the United States.
According to court documents, Merchant arrived in the United States from Pakistan in April, after spending time in Iran, and allegedly looked to hire hitmen to carry out assassinations on American soil. Court documents state he used operational security measures, such as multiple cell phones and removing them during sensitive discussions, to avoid surveillance.
During meetings in New York, Merchant outlined a plan involving multiple criminal schemes, including organizing protests as distractions, and the assassination plot. Merchant met with individuals in June that he believed to be hitmen, but who were actually undercover FBI agents, to arrange the logistics of the plot.
In the end, the DOJ says it took a coordinated effort involving multiple FBI field offices and the New York City Police Department, among other agencies, to take Merchant down.
So you know, he was arrested last month and is currently in federal custody in New York.
This arrest reinforces what the DOJ says is its commitment to thwarting Iran’s ongoing efforts to retaliate against American officials, particularly in response to the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was killed in Baghdad in January 2020, during the Trump administration.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says that the Justice Department will spare no resources when it comes to disrupting people willing to do Iran’s deadly bidding against U.S. citizens and that the DOJ will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to endanger America’s national security.
And with that, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Wednesday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
Whatever you have planned for today, when you’re out and about, it would mean so much to us if you could tell some people you know about our program. Thank you in advance for helping us grow the News Brief family, and as you know by now, we are trying to become the biggest brief on the block.
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And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote. This one comes to us from Lillian Dickson, who said: “Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.”
Lillian Dickson was an independent missionary, author, and public speaker.
Before we go, you should know that today is National Raspberries and Cream Day. Besides red, raspberries also come in purple, gold, and black colors.
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.
Enjoy the remainder of your Wednesday, and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow for another edition of The Epoch Times News Brief. Let’s all continue to watch out for one another, have a superb day today, and bye for now.
